Sri Lankan budgets since independence had focused on giving election goodies instead of the required fiscal policy tightening, which, together with loose monetary policy had led the country to short cycles of boom and bust.

The IMF however noted that recent months had seen greater fiscal and monetary discipline in the country. This is possibly a side-effect of the appointment of Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy as the Central Bank Governor, who has acted pre-emptively to weigh down threats.